Referee Don Langland, center, explains a call during a state playoff game between New Trier Green and Oak Park-River Forest on March 9, 2016. Langland has been an official for more than 20 years.

Referee Don Langland, center, explains a call during a state playoff game between New Trier Green and Oak Park-River Forest on March 9, 2016. Langland has been an official for more than 20 years.

(Tim Boyle / Pioneer Press)

Jon J. KerrPioneer Press

Lilly Bianchi wanted to be involved with hockey as much as possible.

She was a team captain at Lake Forest High School and was a runner-up in a USA Hockey essay contest in 2014.

Bianchi also took the ice as a referee.

"Officiating is another way to show your love for hockey," said Bianchi, now a 20-year-old attending St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. She is a sophomore on the varsity rowing team and plays club hockey at St. Lawrence.

But Bianchi's love of the game was tested when she was 15 years old. A coach of a Lake County youth team vociferously questioned a call she made during a neutral-site game at MacKenzie Ice Arena on the campus of Lake Forest Academy.

The coach made several comments that questioned her authority and mortified the teenage referee.

"It was in between plays. Everyone could hear him," Bianchi said. "It was pretty terrifying. I was 15 and didn't know how to react to the situation."

Bianchi's mother picked her up after the game. That's when the emotions came flooding out.

"I was crying to my mom I was so shaken," Bianchi said. "I'll never forget."

Why did AHAI officials decide to post the story a second time, three years after it was written and five years after the incident in question? Because these types of confrontations are happening more often.

"Aggressive-type conduct from coaches and spectators are easily at a 15 percent increase," AHAI president John Dunne said of the number of incidents directed at officials that were reported during the 2017-18 season to date. He said coaches are at the center of many complaints.

AHAI requires a game report after every contest. That report lists all goals and penalties from the game and is similar to a box score. But referees also can file an incident report that details any poor behavior by coaches, players or spectators. These reports inform Dunne that incidents are on the rise year-over-year.

AHAI adopted a "zero-tolerance policy" several years ago that involves an automatic suspension for any coach or spectator removed from a game for verbal abuse of an official.

Dunne said the most serious incidents often involve coaches.

"They are out of control, so the kids and parents are out of control," he said.

AHAI has about 1,300 registered officials, and they work a combined 32,000 games per season. Those games range from 6-year-old house contests to adult recreational leagues, and include elite travel competition.

There is plenty of work for AHAI referees, but fewer workers are willing to do the job. Dunne said his organization has seen a 10- to 12-percent reduction in the number of registered officials from just a season ago. Dunne blamed the bad behavior of coaches and fans for much of that decrease: "60 percent is due to abuse."

Dunne's estimate is based on the results of an online survey of referees who do not renew their certification. He said abuse is a particularly frequent citation among young referees who decide to hang up the whistle.

AHAI rates officials on a four-tier scale. Level 1 officials have the least training and experience and primarily officiate games involving the youngest players. Level 4 officials have the most training and work games involving the highest levels of amateur competition.

Dunne also officiates games and recalled a frustrating incident from January. He was scheduled to officiate a midget hockey game involving 18-year-olds at Mount Prospect Ice Arena, but he arrived early to evaluate the Level 1 officials assigned to a 10-and-under game at the same rink.

Dunne said one official never showed up, so the only official on the ice was a boy no older than 15. Dunne immediately went to the dressing room and prepared to join the young referee on the ice.

"By the time I could get out there, he had kicked the home team coach out for abuse," Dunne said, noting that the referee was right to do so. "Then (the coach) started yelling at us after the game."

AHAI policy dictates that anyone kicked out of a game — including coaches and spectators — must miss the next three games, but that didn't help the young official.

"The poor kid had the same team the next day, and the assistant (coach) was questioning everything," Dunne said.

Most incidents come from games involving the youngest players, where the officials have less training but the stakes are also lower, according to Dunne.

He added that coaches must keep the game in perspective. New officials will make more mistakes than veteran referees, but that doesn't have to lead to abuse.

"Is it really that important if a 15- or 16-year-old misses an offside call?" Dunne said. "Is it that important?"

Yet it's not easy for a coach to get thrown out of a game. AHAI officials supervisor Michael Barrett said the protocol leading to an ejection starts with a warning, then proceeds to a bench minor penalty and finally a game misconduct.

It's not just coaches and spectators who are held accountable for their actions. The Illinois Hockey Officials Association works with AHAI to educate, train and certify referees. In accordance with USA Hockey guidelines, officials must be recertified every year, and that includes attending a rules presentation and passing a written exam. They must also pass a skating exam as they advance to the next level of certification.

An IHOA committee determines assignments for playoff games at all levels based on regular-season performance.

"We do evaluations, and they have to be proficient," Barrett said.

The need to hire, train and retain officials has never been greater. AHAI referees staffed 24,000 games in 2009. Only nine years later, the workload has increased 33 percent.

"Our biggest concern is younger officials," Barrett said. "We need that next crop of kids that will move up the ranks."

One Chicago-area youth referee said most fans and coaches are courteous and professional. But rarely does a game go by that 17-year-old Tom Bresingham doesn't hear some type of verbal slight.

An Oswego High School senior, Bresingham officiates three or four games a week during the season, often in Naperville, Bolingbrook or at the Sportsplex in Darien. He said he knows what to expect before he takes the ice for each game.

"It's perceived as it's everyone versus the refs," said Bresingham, who earns between $26-$30 per game for officiating peewee, mite and squirt games.

He said he hears shouts from fans in the stands most often after offside, holding or hooking calls, and also when they think a call should have been made.

"The patrons are constantly yelling, 'My (player) didn't do anything wrong. That was a horrible call,'" said Bresingham, a Level 2 official. "I hear it all the time. It's kind of crazy."

Ken Johnson has coached youth hockey for 32 years and is now the assistant hockey director at Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills. Johnson said the physical demands of hockey are what make the sport more challenging for officials than other sports, such as baseball or football.

Missed offside calls, Johnson said, can happen when an official is trailing a play. He said AHAI could be more mindful of assigning officials to games that match their skating ability, and coaches ought to be more understanding of situations involving young officials.

"If my skating ability is not quite there, don't put me in a position of failure," Johnson said. "If I see a young (official) before a game, I'll say, 'I will help you. You will not hear anything from me.'"

Dunne said all AHAI coaching clinics include a session with officials, during which coaches brush up on rule changes and how to interact with officials during a game.

Chicago Mission hockey director Gino Cavallini said AHAI might be able to curb bad behavior by enforcing stricter penalties. He said the mandatory three-game suspension isn't enough to prevent the worst circumstances.

"If someone is a repeat offender, after a few strikes, you are done for the season," said Cavallini, who played forward in the NHL from 1985-1993. "A coach is a role model and you are representing yourself in front of kids. The lessons kids get from hockey is what they take into life."

Dunne said the automatic three-game suspension worked well initially because it served as a deterrent. It also took disciplinary decisions out of the hands of individual teams, which previously had the authority to determine internal punishment for coaches, players and fans.

Dunne said part of the recent uptick in reported incidents might be a result of fewer incidents being swept under the rug. He said officials are becoming more willing to report abuse rather than ignore it.

AHAI is looking at potential next steps to curb referee abuse, according to Dunne. One option is the Fair Play system adopted by Minnesota Hockey. That system awards an extra point in the standings for good sportsmanship during a game. Teams forfeit that point if a coach is given a game misconduct, the team exceeds a penalty-minute threshold or a spectator is asked to leave.

Bianchi has not officiated the last few years, in part because of college, but that might change soon. She said she's thinking about registering so she can work games next season. AHAI leaders hope more people are considering that, too.

Bianchi said her passion for the sport remains intact.

"I'm at a point where I want to give back and foster the love I had for hockey," she said.